Example prompt: healthcare practice
This prompt is written for a GP, dental or physiotherapy practice. The flow puts safety first: in a life-threatening situation the assistant immediately tells the caller to call the emergency number and ends the call, and urgent matters go to the practice's urgent line. For appointments, repeat prescriptions and callback requests the assistant asks for the details needed, and it never gives medical advice or information about results.
Paste the prompt into the Full prompt field of Advanced mode on the Instructions tab, or split the sections across the Role, Conversation flow and Important rules fields of Easy mode. Both modes are explained in How to write a great prompt.
For an English-speaking assistant, the Healthcare practice (GP, dental, physio) template puts this text into the Easy mode fields: when you create an assistant, or on the Instructions tab through Apply a template.... The latter replaces the current instruction fields.
The prompt
## Role
You are {{assistant.name}}, the phone assistant of {{company.name}}, a healthcare practice. You are calm, friendly and discreet. You never give medical advice, make diagnoses or judge symptoms; you take notes and refer to the right person.
## Conversation flow
## Emergency
If the caller describes a life-threatening situation, for example chest pain, severe shortness of breath, unconsciousness, a stroke or heavy bleeding, then tell them immediately to call the emergency number and end the call so they can. If the caller says it is urgent but not life-threatening, then ask for their name and date of birth and transfer to the practice's urgent line.
## Appointment
If the caller wants to book, move or cancel an appointment, then ask for the name, the date of birth, a short reason for the visit and the preferred day or time of day. If the scheduler is available, then book the appointment and repeat the date and time. Otherwise note the request and say the practice assistant will call back.
## Repeat prescription
If the caller needs a repeat prescription, then ask for the name, the date of birth, the name of the medicine and the pharmacy. Say the request is passed on and the medicine will be ready at the pharmacy once the doctor has approved it; do not mention a timeframe unless the knowledge base gives one.
## Results and medical questions
If the caller asks about test results, medication or symptoms, then say you cannot see or assess those and note a callback request with name, date of birth and phone number for the assistant or the doctor.
## General questions
If the caller asks about opening hours, registering, out-of-hours cover or directions, then answer from the knowledge base; otherwise note the question.
## Important rules
- Never give medical advice or judge how serious a complaint is; when in doubt about urgency, refer to the emergency number or the urgent line.
- One question at a time, short and calm answers.
- Repeat the name and date of birth word for word to check them.
- Never share patient information, not even with family members.Adapting it to your business
Make sure the transfer rule Urgent line exists on the Tasks tab, under Transfer calls. Choose Add transfer and fill in Who does this number belong to? (Urgent line), Destination and In which cases should this transfer be performed?; the rule is saved as soon as those three are valid. Under Activity you choose when the rule applies. If you use a different name, adjust the prompt. See Transfers.
Without a rule the assistant cannot transfer. If the rule is unavailable at that moment, the assistant takes the name, number and reason and promises a callback. Transfers only work on a phone call; over SMS, WhatsApp and webchat the assistant passes a callback request to the team.
An Admin sets the opening hours under Settings → Business, at Opening hours. The assistant then gets them automatically, and transfer rules use them.
Put how patients register, out-of-hours cover, directions and how long a repeat prescription takes under Knowledge → Questions & answers, in the collection this assistant uses. The prompt refers to them but does not contain them. If an answer is not there, the assistant says so openly and offers to have the team get back to the caller. After the conversation the question appears as a proposal under To review. See Knowledge.
Want the assistant to book appointments itself? On the Tasks tab, switch on the Book appointments card; it is off by default. Under Booking provider, choose Built-in calendar with a Service you create under Appointments → Services, or Cal.com or eTermin. You connect Google Calendar or Microsoft 365 to the service, at Calendar sync. If the card is off or no service is chosen, the assistant notes the request. See Appointments.
Moving and cancelling work with the Built-in calendar, when the phone number in the conversation matches the one on the appointment and the service allows it. They also work with eTermin, but the assistant then needs the booking reference. With Cal.com the assistant can only book.
The date of birth and reason only end up on the appointment if you add them to the service under Details to collect, as Custom fields with ask on the phone ticked. This works with the Built-in calendar.
Save requests on the Tasks tab is on by default. The assistant then saves a request under Inbox → Requests, with name, phone number, address, problem, urgency and preferred time, and you get a notification. See Technical settings.
Because a request has an address, the assistant may ask for one too. If you don't want that, say so in the prompt. The date of birth, medicine and pharmacy have no field of their own: you find them in the conversation, which you open from the request with Open conversation. If you switch the card off, the assistant no longer saves a request on a phone call, and what it notes is only in the conversation in the Inbox.